Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practices on breast cancer and breast self examination among female students, School of Medicine and Health Science, Ambo University, Oromiya Region, Ethiopia

Joint Event on Cancer Treatment & Breast Cancer and Biomarkers

March 20-21, 2019 Paris, France

Workinesh Daba Seboka,Bedilu Gerbaba

Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia

Ambo University, Ethiopia

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Cancer Sci Ther

Abstract :

Background: In Ethiopia, breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related mortality and morbidity. Level of knowledge, attitude and practices of female university students about breast cancer and breast self-examination is not thoroughly examined.

Objective: The main objective of the present study is to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices on breast cancer and breast self- examination of female students at the School of Medicine and Health Science, Ambo University, 2017.

Methods: Institution based cross-sectional study design was conducted among 204 female students selected from the School of Medicine and Health Science of Ambo University. Excel generated a simple random sampling technique was employed to select the study population using a list of identification card number obtained from university registrar. A self- administered questionnaire was used to collect data on socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, attitude and practices. SPSS version 23 was used for data entry and analysis. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were computed. All p-values <0.05 are set to determine the statistical association.

Result: Majority of the respondents were aged between 20-24 years with mean (±SD) age 21.5 (±2.82) years. The largest ethnic group was Oromo (57.2%) and Orthodox (44.8%) was the dominant religion. Though the majority of the respondents (95.3%) had information on breast cancer, nearly half of the respondents do not know its hereditary and curable disease if detected early. About 77% of the respondents cited breast self-examination as a method of early detection of breast cancer. Nearly half of the respondents (49%) had good knowledge score and 44.8% of the respondents had a positive attitude towards breast self-examination. However, only one-third of the respondents had practised the self-examination. In this study, significant association were observed between knowledge and attitude (Ï?2=10.832, df=1, P=0.001), knowledge and practice (Ï?2=28.528, df=1, P=0.000), and attitude and practice (Ï?2=7.184, df=1, P=0.007).

Biography :

Workinesh Daba Seboka has completed her BSc degree from School of Nursing and Midwifery, Addis Ababa University and Master of Public Health in Reproductive and Family Health from School of Public Health-Addis Ababa University. She is a Lecturer at Addis Ababa University College of Health Sciences, School of Nursing and Midwifery. She has six years of work experience and an expert Midwife Professional.

E-mail: workinesh.daba@aau.edu.et

kennabayu@gmail.com